"Hamas Leader's Family Targeted: Escalating Tensions in Gaza"
Three sons and four grandchildren of the political leader of Hamas have been killed in an Israeli air strike on their car in Gaza.
Israel has confirmed the strike, describing the brothers as Hamas military operatives. Jeremy Bowen has the very latest from Jerusalem. Three missiles hit the car in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza City. Ismail Haniyeh's three sons and four grandchildren were killed along with their driver. Witnesses told local journalists that they were visiting bereaved families. The Israelis said they attacked to stop the men committing an act of terror.
The dead men's father is the senior Hamas political leader deeply involved in ceasefire talks. Ismail Haniyeh was in Qatar when he was told his sons were dead. Their blood, he said, was no more precious than that of any Palestinian, and Hamas would not change its position on a ceasefire. Killing members of Ismail Haniyeh's family might strengthen suspicions that Israel's prime minister does not want a ceasefire deal with Hamas and will buy time by sabotaging the talks.
For Muslims, this day is supposed to be joyful. It is Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan. Even in Gaza, this is Rafah, where life was always hard. Eid was a respite. This year, graveyard visits instead of presents, sweet treats, and new clothes for the children. Ummad is at her son Ham's grave, one of more than 33,000 Palestinians killed by Israel. "I'm asking God to take revenge on Israel and America. May they suffer too. Oh God, have their children killed and their wives widowed. They destroyed our house. We live on the street. Gaza is drowning in destruction, darkness, and damnation."
Ben-Gurion University, about 25 miles from Gaza, looks tranquil, but more than 100 students and staff from here were killed or taken hostage on the 7th of October. Six and a half thousand students were mobilized, among them three young men just back from Gaza after months in combat. "Tell me, what was the impact of the 7th of October on you?" "I think everybody here is related somehow to what happened. Everybody feels. Everybody knows someone that was kidnapped or killed. It's all around the country. I mean, you saw Palestinian civilians inside Gaza, and they've been going through hell." "What was going through your mind?" "I think many of them aren't innocent, and I think it will be really hard to find those that are innocent. But it doesn't mean I think everyone should get hurt."
"And what's the future going to be with the Palestinians next door?" "I think that if you'd have asked me this question on October 6th, then I would say definitely, yes, I would just do a Palestinian state, let them live over there, we'll live over here, and we'll all coexist, and everything will be nice. But after October 7th, it seems clear to me that they don't want it as much as I wanted it. Of course, I prefer to be here in the university, to study, to go and drink my coffee, instead of going fighting a war. Like, it's not fun going to fight in a war, but sometimes it's necessary, and in this situation, it's necessary. I mean, it's a two-way street, sort of what you like your question. I mean, it feels like it's Israel's responsibility to not radicalize Gazans, but where is Gaza's responsibility towards us? You know, I mean, if we ever want to coexist, if we want a two-state solution, we need responsibility on both sides. We need accountability."
At the north end of Gaza, the fences that did not stop Hamas have been repaired. Last week, after international anger about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Israel promised to open this crossing, Erez, to allow aid directly into the north, which faces famine. It is still shut. Prime Minister Netanyahu is under a lot of pressure at the moment from the Americans, who want a ceasefire and for him to open the gates of Gaza to unlimited amounts of humanitarian aid, from the hostage families who want to deal with Hamas to get their people back, and from the ultra-nationalists in his own coalition who've said that if that offensive in Gaza doesn't go ahead, then they will bring down his government.
North Gaza, gripped by hunger and disease, is on the other side of the wall. When the siege was imposed, the Israeli defense minister said they were fighting human animals. Six months on, Israel's allies say its 1200 dead on the 7th of October did not give it license to kill and destroy so much. Prospects for those ceasefire talks are not looking good at the moment, not just because of the attack on Ismail Haniyeh's family.
It's also because the two sides are way apart. Hamas has their position, essentially saying in return for the hostages, Israel has to eventually fully pull out of Gaza. Israel, meanwhile, wants to do that military operation in Rafah, which the Americans are against. Now, a couple of days ago, I was wondering, clearly, it's not the end of the war, but maybe the beginning of the endgame. I don't think that is the case. I think now that it's clear that there's a lot more to go in Gaza, but more than that, in the wider Middle East, war between Israel and Iran and its friends that could escalate too.
Israel tonight is on high alert because of warnings relayed as well by the Americans of an Iranian strike of some sort on Israel, and that would be in retaliation for the assassination that Israel mounted in Damascus last week of a senior Iranian general and other senior officers at their diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital. So I'm afraid to say again that the war in Gaza, no chance of it ending soon, I'd say, and the wider war in the Middle East, the sad and sorry steady escalation, perhaps to something worse. Yes.
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